


No chase

by TFALokiwriter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), One Shot, Post-Voldemort's Halloween 1981 Attack on the Potter Family (Harry Potter), Sirius Black Never Went to Azkaban
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28824363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFALokiwriter/pseuds/TFALokiwriter
Summary: Something didn't feel right, it had been a week, and Sirius hadn't apparated behind Peter and casted hexes after him for the deadly betrayal.  It only became apparent to him with eleven days of nothingness that something had gone horribly wrong.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	No chase

Peter knocked on Remus's door, rapidly, fighting back a tremble as he looked around searching for observers. His heart was loudly beating against his chest as his whole world felt tight, dreadful, and shaky unlike the day that all those feelings had fled when he had joined the Death Eaters and became reasonably confident in the outcome regarding his life but now it had returned with a vengeance. 

The door opened and there stood a tired Remus. 

"Wormtail?" Remus asked then stretched his arms, rubbed the side of his hip, then leaned against the frame."

"Uh, yeah."

"What was the last thing I told you when Harry was born?" Remus asked as he withdrew his hand from his hip carrying a wand that was now aimed at Peter. "And it can't be anything intelligent that I said beforehand."

"Lily is going to be delivering a fawn instead of a baby." Peter said. 

Remus sighed, relieved, lowering his wand.

"Thank Merlin it is actually you." Remus dropped his head into his hand. "Can't be certain if the Death Eaters want vengeance for Sirius."

Peter fidgeted with his hands in his lap.

"Yeah, t-t-t-t-that's what I am here about." Peter said.

Remus grew alarmed then his features eased.

"Come in."

Remus stepped back and allowed Peter in. Remus went into his kitchen as Peter sat down into a chair and waited for a few minutes for his longtime friend to return with two cups of tea and sat across from him in a arm chair across from him. Peter took a sip from a offered cup that had a plate with two small chocolate chip cookies while Remus had none at all while eying at him. Peter had a shaky sigh as he lowered the cup on to the plate then ate a piece of a cookie. 

"Why are you just now showing up after being invited by the Phoenix for the victory party?" 

"Sirius." Peter took another bite of the cookie. "He hasn't appeared since. . ."

"Since the last time we had seen him together." Remus finished for him.

"Yes." Peter confirmed. 

Peter sipped from the cup as he trembled and it was quiet between them.

"He--he--he---was trusted with Lilly! James!" Peter's demeanor became tearful and angry at once. "Harry--" he closed his eyes. "Sirius took them all away."

Remus was quiet for a short moment looking toward Peter's visibly shaken demeanor.

"Finish that tea before you talk." Remus advised his old friend.

Peter nodded then finished the other cookie and resumed drinking his tea.

"I admit, I was heartbroken by their deaths." Remus lowered his head as Peter was calming down. "Angry. Confused. Betrayed."

Remus had a small sigh as the feelings that were plaguing him returned. 

"But, in all of that. . . I was happy." Remus lifted his head up with a tearful smile. "Not like Pads would be in this moment."

Peter nodded.

"Harry survived." Remus's voice fell soft. "That is what really matters."

Peter looked toward Remus.

"I agree." Peter said. "Some consolation can be taken." he rubbed his thumb along the cup. "Someone lived."

Remus stood up to his feet then walked away facing the direction of the window looking back.

"That's what they loved the most in the world." Remus said as he looked on heartbroken gazing out the window. "More than Muggle borns, more than Muggles, more than pure bloods ceasing their hate on Muggle borns."

Peter nodded, heartbroken, regretfully.

"So, Peter, why didn't you to the celebrations earlier?" Remus turned toward Peter as he lifted a brow.

"I am scared."

"Of whom?"

"Our former roommate."

Remus came back over then picked up his own tea cup and sipped from it while unnervingly quiet. 

"Did. . . Did. . . did he tell you before it happened?"

"He did." Peter confirmed with a slow nod then puckered his lips, briefly. "I thought Padfoot was joking then he went and --" he cringed. "you-know-who did it."

Remus set down his tea cup on to the table as he cleared his throat.

"Peter. . ." Remus started to say, gently.

Peter turned his attention toward Remus.

"Sirius has been in a Muggle Hospital since after the night that you became the Secret Keeper."

Peter had been had. He bolted to his feet and made a run for it only to be hit by a stupefy spell that knocked him him down to the rug and the tea cup shattered. Remus aimed his wand at the shattered fragments and muttered, "Reparo." summoning the pieces back together then levitated it into his hand and set it on the table. Peter groaned, lifting himself up, as the door gently opened leading in Aurors.

"Did you hear all of it?" Remus asked.

"Every word." Was Dawlish's reply as Peter was apprehanded. 

"Why is he in a Muggle Hospital?" Peter asked. "He ca--I would have---how could---"

"It's not Dragon Pox." Moody said. "That much we do know. Doesn't have the bumps."

Peter's calm was replaced by terror as it became quite clear to him that he could be a carrier of what Sirius had.

"This information was quite tight lipped and very . . out of the blue." Dawlish admitted, sheepishly then shrugged. "New Zealand is a bit of a place in no where."

"I am innocent! I was cursed! I am not guilty!"

"You did this with your own free will, Peter." Moody said.

"Something Wizardly, something dark, something made of filth and complete shit that could only come from the likes of your associates." It was a slip of a word and Peter painfully remembered, tonight was going to be the first night without any of his friends for Remus. "It's nice to see you so concerned, interested, about a friend who would have given his---No! More than that! His soul, his years, his memory, his skills just for your life."

A loud wail came from the other room.

"Healers are already working on it and Harry's with me until Sirius is better--"

Peter's eyes widened.

"Harry is with you tonight!" Peter exclaimed, agape, shocked. "You have gone mad from grief."

Remus smiled, widely, then began to shake his head.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Peter."

Peter could have become a ghost had he gone any paler.

"I met Petunia and discussed this with her the night after Harry was taken into her custody." Remus assured. "She is willing to let him stay just for Wednesday night." 

Remus's smile grew smaller, bitterly, but happy that things were working out.

"So willing to let him sleep over while I have a errand tonight." Remus finished, his tone was a mix of anger and grief even a tinge of some happiness.

Peter paled.

"I don't care what I find out about your trial about why you became the secret keeper: all I care about is having some semblance of a world to rebuild _without_ you!"

His glare was more, intense, furious, wild even, and wolf like than Peter had seen in the last decade that he had known the man. A bit of his werewolf side was showing in the daylight hours even before being allowed to roam around free and play. 

His shout was loud but definitive and not dramatic and long compared to his long term significant other. He shouted, once (or twice or more, whenever it was the day of the full moon), that gave the effect of his rage compared to Sirius. Remus turned away then began to walk on in the direction of the loud wailing. 

"Good-bye, Peter." Was the last words that were meant for Peter.

Remus walked away.

"He's a werewolf!" Peter cried, struggling in their icy grip as Dawlish took out a portkey. "He's a werewolf! He's a werewolf! He can't be trusted with a baby!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Moody mocked. "And we're vampires."

Remus came over to the makeshift crib then picked up Harry and cradled him.

"Ssssh," Remus said as the group departed. "Sssh, cub," he cupped his hand along Harry's cheek. "It's alright." he poked at the boy's nose earning a loud laugh and a smile squeezing his eyes shut as Remus played with the infant. "Pads is going to join us soon and everything will be okay."

Remus placed the boy against his chest as he proceeded to hug and rock him gently even as uncertain it was that Sirius was going to be okay. He felt it in his heart and that is what mattered the most in the ruins of the aftermath of war.

There was only Harry, Sirius, and the house that he deemed his own that was left, including a tattoo on his arm -- like Sirius -- of what had been once his small pack; a deer footprint, a rat footprint, and a dog footprint. Sirius and Harry were going to be part of his life moving forward, however bumpy it was, the joys, the highs, and the lows.

Remus had faith it was going to be okay in the end.

Remus wasn't wrong.


End file.
